Pen pal

Going above and beyond my comfort zone was the aim that I had for this project. I wanted to think outside of the box and interview someone whom I have not known for a great amount of time. After brainstorming about which person I should seek to interview, the thought finally occurred to me. Over the past few weeks, I have downloaded an app from the Apple iTunes store onto my iPhone. The app, Stigma is a social networking app that allows you to anonymously obtain pen pals. You have the option of self-selecting who you want to be your pen pal along with sharing the gift of getting to know someone different from you. I recently became pen pals with a male who was given the name “Lovely Panda” by default. (I will be referring to him as Panda).…

Since kindergarten, I have written to a pen pal in Bumwalukani, Uganda named Caroline Watsemba. My family sponsors her, which means that we pay for her education. Caroline went to a school called Arlington Academy of Hope, which was created by two Ugandan parents at my old school. Out of 19,000 schools in Uganda, AAH is one of the best primary schools in the country, ranking in the top 1%. It is well structured, full of adequate materials to teach with, provides each student with a uniform and…

I love to read and occasionally write. However, I did not always feel so passionate about these wonderful things. Around first or second grade, maybe even third I did not care for writing at all. In fact, I recall one time when a friend of mine and me miraculously ended up going to the restroom at the same time somehow. I did not actually need to go to the restroom I just did not want to participate in the writing assignment given to me at the time. Yes I know it was kind of silly because when…

Hmmmm, click. Tap tap. Click. Click click clack. Sigh. Why am I writing again—click click tap. click clack taaaa-pp. As a person who has a vendetta against writing, the sounds of the keyboard distract me. My unedited writing turns to gibberish because, for example, no one can say, “j f s s ,“ in the rhythm of which I just typed does not sound amazing. I have always been drawn to music, and even when I strayed from it, I always end up back here. At age four, my parents got me a keyboard because…

But it was not the same drained feeling I got after venting all of my anger. This is good though. Death is not something that one just deals with right away and then forgets about it. This tragedy will stay with me for quite some time. Eventually it will not consume my thoughts and cause me to look at life differently but it will stay with me in the back of my mind. Maybe years down the road when I am teaching a high school English class, I will give my students an assignment that brings…

are one if you do good research. Prior to this class I used to think that I had to write and rewrite multiple drafts of a paper in order to get it right. I would take the ideas in my outline format and sit down and pen my first draft. Next, I used to write the whole draft, get it critiqued, write another one, and ad infinitum until I got feedback that the writing was ideal or as good as it was going to get. After taking this class I now realize that the draft process is kind of antiquated. The…

That’s because their face and their name are stored in separate areas of your left brain. It’s the job of the right side of your brain to recall those images and labels and put them together for you. That’s just one of the benefits of Zentangle drawing over just coloring in an outline on a page. Zentangle exercises those neural connections when you draw the tangles. Creating Zentangle art is really easy and fast. You traditionally work on a small 3 ½”x3 ½” quality paper tile that you can finish…

Let’s just start off and say that I love to write. Writing helps me express my feelings so people can get to know me better. I do not like talking in front of the class, so instead I like to write because I’m a very shy person. Writing is a huge thing in my everyday life for an example when I do homework, I make a list and it’s just the little things like that, that help me become a better writer. I don’t hate reading, but I like writing a lot better than reading because writing I can write…

Do you remember the excitement as a child to receive something in the mail? Every day you would run to the mailbox with hopes of getting mail. Children in today’s society don’t know the excitement that comes with the mail. Today’s children will grow up to expect emails, texts, and other forms of technology. What is the true importance of written communication? Some may say that there is none while others wish we could go back in time to when that was the only communication we had. The true…

“Let me read it,” she said. “You’re only five, you can’t read yet,” I informed her. She frowned and sat down. I began to read it. It read, Mary. I won’t make it home for your birthday this year. Things here at the factory are very busy. I would like to wish you a Happy Birthday. I sighed and set it down on the table. “Looks like Father won’t make it home any time soon,” I said. Later, when Margaret was playing with her dolls, I slipped away to Mother’s bedroom. Mother was sitting at her desk,…